Bangkok: Difference between revisions

Getting an Abortion in Bangkok

As someone who had been living in Chiang Mai for over 10 months at the time, making what would be minimum wage in most western countries, I wasn’t able to get myself to Bangkok as early as I would have liked. I had to save up a bit of money after paying rent and make sure I had enough to endure not only the procedure, which I had read could be anywhere from 2,000-5,000 baht, but also just the generally more expensive capital city.  

Using online calculators and common sense, I figure I was about 8-9 weeks along. Too far along for what is called a “medical abortion” which is taking a pill that basically forces an abortion (not sure if that’s even offered at this clinic as I didn’t have any experience with it). I had to have a suction abortion where to my disadvantage, they usually do not dilate the cervix prior to the operation. A suction abortion is exactly what it sounds like and take about 3 minutes or so.

On the day of the procedure, I took a taxi to Cabbages and Condoms, the place I had read most about when I was doing research. When you walk into the parking lot of the restaurant you will see a big green sign with an arrow pointing left that says: “clinic”. I followed that sign towards a set of stairs that I felt was a little bit in the open for what it was, right next to the entrance of the restaurant.  

I walked up to the 2nd floor where I told the woman behind the desk I wanted an abortion. She took my passport and I sat and waited as she filled out my information. When she was finished, she called me to collect my papers and sent me upstairs to the 3rd floor. On the 3rd floor I walked to the desk on the far right and handed the woman my papers. She asked me how far along I was and I told her I thought around 8 weeks. After about 2 minutes they called me into the ultrasound room where a woman took a quick picture and sent me on my way (she spoke the least English of everyone I interacted with). She didn’t tell me how far along I was and didn’t show me the screen but some curious part of me tried to peak unsuccessfully. I handed my papers to the lady at the desk again and she told me I had to pay 400 baht for the ultrasound (I’m not sure if any of the Thai women payed this fee).  

From there I handed my papers to the other desk on that floor and sat and waited about 5 minutes. There were maybe 7 other people there and they all looked at me as I was the only foreigner. I felt a little awkward but I believe I would feel just the same if there was also foreigners there.  

I was called in to a room where I sat down with a woman who asked me some questions. She asked where I was from, how long I had been there and what my job was. As I’m studying Thai, I told her I did not have a job and was only a student (since the legalities of working online are questionable). She was very sweet and spoke a little bit of Thai to me. To my surprise, she asked what my boyfriend’s name was and what he did for a living and wrote it all on a piece of paper. She was surprised to hear he was Thai and asked me what his salary was. I told her I didn’t know as this all felt very personal and as the relationship was ending I didn't want to bring him into it. She took my phone and told me to go to another room where I would pay 3,500 baht. I think that the interviewer assess your financial position and bases your fee on that. I had read that it could cost between 2,000 and 5,000 baht. Since the clinic helps lower income women as well I think they do this to make sure everyone is charged reasonably for their income.  

I went back to the waiting room for about 2 minutes when me and 2 other Thai girls who were probably close to my age (22) were called in. We walked into a room and put our shoes in plastic bags. We continued on to another room where we were sat on a couch and each given a pill and some water and told it was for the pain, though I understood her saying in Thai that there would be no pain. The woman explained the process in Thai and handed me a paper with some very vague instructions in English. She brought us to another room and I was separated from the other girls and brought to a small room with a bed, a sarong and a curtain for a door. They told me to put on the sarong and lie in my bed and wait.  

I waited for what felt like hours but was probably closer to 35 minutes. The room was freezing and I tried to use my sarong to cover my toes which were losing feeling from being so cold. Finally, the woman came in to get me. She helped me fix my sarong and sat me in a group of chairs outside of a closed door. Another girl, different from the two that had come in with me was brought over 5 seconds later and sat across from me looking just as terrified as I’m sure I did. 

The door opened and out came one of the girls I had originally been brought in with. She was hunched over, holding tight to her lower stomach. She was rushed over to the beds where she had been lying prior. They called me in and it all went by so quickly.  

I walked in the white medical room and as they finished wiping the bed/seat told me to lie down. The nurse was very kind to me asking about my Thai language school and all sorts of questions about living in Thailand. As she continued to attempt to comfort me with distracting conversations, the doctor came in and he told me to adjust myself back slightly with my thighs in the stirrups. He lifted my sarong and told me to relax my muscles.  

Everything happened so quickly but at the same time felt like lifetimes. I could hear the suctioning of him manually pumping the syringe that was inside of me. At first there was a little pain but eventually it became unbearable. I couldn’t cry and my mouth was open trying to let out a scream as the nurse begged me not to and told me it was almost over. I thought she must have not wanted the girl waiting to be even more afraid then she probably already was. There were 2 very strong unbearable parts that the pain peaked, but after about 3 minutes it was over.  

They handed me a large sanitary pad to hold between my legs, under my sarong and just as the girl had before me, I shuffled back to my room with a nurse guiding me as I hunched over. I laid in my bed curled up in a ball with what felt like the worst period pains I had ever had multiplied by 20. At this point, I was so thankful for the fact my room was freezing because sweat had soaked through my t-shirt and was dripping down my forehead. A nurse came in and told me to drink the tea they had brought me but I couldn’t bear it and instead opted to lean over the bed with the garbage can next to me, as the pain made me feel like I was going to be sick. After a few minutes of moaning and whimpering the pain slowly faded away. Again, the nurse came in and handed me my tea insisting I drink and telling me I could leave.  

This is when the emotions kicked in and I just wanted to stay in the room and cry thinking about everything that had just happened, but I knew they wanted me to leave. I got dressed and made my way to the interview room. She explained to me again the things I needed to know for after care (take birth control every day for the month, antibiotics until they were complete and ibuprofen for the pain). I started to cry and she gave me tissues and comforted me which was really sweet of her. 

I walked out of the clinic, feeling a bit embarrassed as I walked past patients in the waiting room, trying to hold back tears. I went outside and ordered a motorbike taxi (bad idea, a seat in a cab would have been much more comfortable, but I didn’t want to sit in a car where someone would try and make conversation with me). When I got back to y hotel I was still bleeding, but not as heavy as a period. I gave myself time to cry and be emotional but was so exhausted both emotionally and physically so I decided to take a nap. 

The morning sickness which had prevented me from eating anything more than a smoothie a day for the past 2 weeks disappeared almost immediately. I still had sore breasts for a couple of days and remained very tired for a couple of weeks. I felt extremely sad and depressed for a month and it’s slowly been getting better. Now, 3 months later, I feel a lot better about my decision than 2 weeks after the procedure, but it’s still the hardest thing I’ve ever done, even knowing it’s what I needed to do.